The Jumper Still Fits!
by Jaggie 107
Summary: Same jumper, ten years later…


Title : The Jumper Still Fits

Author : Jaggie 107

Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount. I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.

Rating : T

Summary : Same jumper, ten years later…

For Dani R, who asked for a continuation. Hope you enjoy this, Dani!

**THE JUMPER STILL FITS! **

**Rabb Residence, mid morning…**

"_I'm pregnant."_

It came out in a rush, a voice heavy with unshed tears. Mac sighed and enveloped the younger woman in her arms.

Mattie Rabb Harmon wound her arms tightly round the woman who had become her adoptive mother a little less than ten years before, and sobbed her heart out. Mac waited for the storm to ease and then moved back enough to be able to look into Mattie's eyes.

"You didn't plan this, I take it?"

"Not…not exactly. I mean, we both want children…" Mattie began, and then cleared her voice, her next words coming out stronger. "Tom doesn't know yet. I don't know how to tell him! He's just started in his new posting, and I'm doing the tech course…" Mac smiled at the casual way Mattie spoke about the specialized intensive training she was doing in computerized weaponry. Harm had been so pleased when Mattie had chosen to specialize in computers and when she added the aspect of weaponry he knew just who would be able to help his oldest daughter. Despite the years, Meg Austin was very happy to help out, and both she and Mattie had become firm friends. Mac watched a myriad of emotions cross Mattie's face, and it brought back the recent memories of Mattie telling them about Marine Captain Thomas Harmon.

'_You're not going to believe this, but…his surname is Harmon. His name is Thomas…Tom," Mattie had explained, giving her parents the details of the man she had fallen in love with. When Mac had spied the Naval Academy class ring on her daughter's left hand, third finger, she knew why Mattie had taken emergency leave to visit them._

'_You're married!'_

_Harm had choked on the drink of water he had just taken, and Mattie had cast fearful eyes in his direction, expecting a tirade. It hadn't come. Instead, once he had regained his voice, Mattie was surprised to find both Harm and Mac smiling at one another before they enveloped her in a warm hug._

'_It's okay, Mats… Mac and I…we did the same thing…" _

'_You got married in Las Vegas?'_

'_Not quite, but we did have a civil ceremony in chambers. Judge Sebring's to be exact. We were each going to our separate postings, until my terminal leave came through,' Mac explained, and added that neither of them wanted to be so far apart and not together in marriage. They had eventually admitted their marriage to Harm's mother when she had offered them a full ceremony once Mac was released from her posting in San Diego, and the older woman had simply laughed and said she wasn't at all surprised. They went ahead instead with a blessing of their vows and a formal reception._

"Sweetheart, it isn't the end of the world, I promise," Mac brought her thoughts back to the present, and put her hands on Mattie's shoulders. "Women get pregnant in the military all the time, and you're on a predominantly desk-bound job, at least during your training. I'm sure Tom will be happy too."

"But what if he…" Mattie began, worrying her lip – a habit that Mac had found endearing. She did the exact same thing!

"Come with me…" Mac took Mattie's hand in hers and walked up the stairs and onto a second landing to the closed door that led to the attic. Pushing open the door and switching on the lights, Mac walked up a small set of stairs and along the boarded floor to a small ottoman. Mattie watched in silence as Mac lifted the lid and removed a parcel wrapped in tissue paper, inside a packing bag. Sitting down on a nearby box, Mac unwrapped her precious parcel.

"I wore this, the morning I told Harm I was pregnant with David. And then again, with Cate. It became our 'tradition' but after Cate…" Mac's voice wobbled, and Mattie gave her a reassuring smile. Mac nodded, took a breath and continued. "After Cate, I knew there were going to be no more babies…but I couldn't quite let go of this. Now I know why…" Mac handed over the jumper, folded, and watched as Mattie shook it out gently.

"Oh, Mom…" Mattie's hushed tone told Mac exactly what she wanted to hear. The gift of the jumper was accepted without words, and the tradition was passed to the next generation.

**Rabb Residence, late afternoon…**

Harm climbed out of his SUV and fielded the bundle of energy that shot out of the back door.

"Harm!" Mac's voice rang out, just as Harm caught and lifted his youngest daughter.

"I've got her," he called back, managing to hold his briefcase in one hand, his youngest daughter in the crook of the other arm, and blow a raspberry on her cheek all at the same time. Catherine Mackenzie Rabb, fondly known as 'Cate', giggled in response to the noise Harm made, and patted his cheeks with chubby fists in return.

"Mommy got a 'umpa'!" announced Cate proudly, and as Harm correctly translated 'umpa'to 'jumper', he gave his wife a surprised look.

"Something I should know about, Mac?"

Mac laughed softly at both her daughter and her husband, shaking her head as she stood aside at the door to let Harm through, still carrying Cate.

"Not what you're thinking, Sailor. I went looking for the jumper this morning. Mattie was here."

"Was?" Harm was a trifle disappointed at not seeing his oldest child, wondering just what was going on if Mattie had come unannounced to see her mother. Mac saw just when the penny dropped.

"She's pregnant!" Surprise and confusion crossed his face, and Mac mused just how alike father and daughter were, even without the genetic tie. Harm crossed the kitchen to deposit Cate on a chair and his briefcase on the tiled counter, then he turned to take Mac in his arms and give her their usual greeting kiss. Understandably he was a trifle distracted, and Mac laughed as his mouth barely grazed her lips.

"Hey," she protested, and Harm returned for a more thorough example of greeting, and then grinned as he lifted his head and looked at Mac.

"Sorry," he apologized, and Mac smiled at him. "I…uh…take it Tom doesn't know?"

"Not yet. It's going to be okay, Harm. I gave Mattie the jumper."

"Are we done with it now?" Harm asked, knowing how much joy wearing the jumper had brought the pair of them through both of Mac's pregnancies. He remembered when their son David had been born Mac had put the jumper aside in moth balls to protect it, and had eagerly repeated the now-traditional announcement when she had found herself pregnant with Cate. The birth of their youngest daughter had been a roller-coaster of one crisis after another as Mac developed high blood pressure, and then suffered a life-threatening blood loss when delivering the baby. The chances of complications had been explained beforehand to Mac, and she had reluctantly agreed to any procedures the obstetricians thought fit to perform should the need arise. Following the emergency hysterectomy, and the subsequent feelings of inadequacy, Mac had shaken herself out of her funk and gently placed the jumper back in mothballs. It wouldn't be worn again, but she wasn't quite ready to let go just yet…

Mac nodded her head, too full of emotion at that moment to voice an answer, and Harm kissed the top of her head before murmuring in a voice just low enough for her to hear._'Later…'_

**Rabb Residence, late evening…**

Harm waited for Mac to come to him, and he was rewarded for his patience as she settled into the bed beside him, finding her niche tucked into the left side of his body.

"Thank you," murmured Mac.

"You did a good thing today, and we haven't really lost the jumper. It's gone to good home, Mac; kind of like a continuing our tradition."

"That's what I'm hoping…" Mac confessed, and then lifted her face to Harm's, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I told Mattie the story. I hope the jumper brings the two of them the luck it brought for the two of us."

"I'm sure it will," Harm acknowledged, and Mac snuggled into his side once more, a smile on her face that he just knew reached her eyes, even though her eyelids were closed.

"Are you going to sleep?" asked Harm, his hands resting gently on her skin, not yet making any overt moves.

"Depends…" Mac returned, her own hands resting over his.

"Depends? On what?"

"Make me an offer, Sailor, commensurate with the standard to which I have become accus…"

Harm rolled them both over so that Mac lay beneath him, her eyes shining with amusement as she looked up at him.

"So, you want an offer you can't refuse, huh?"

"Mmm hmm," Mac confirmed, her eyes closing on a groan of pleasure as Harm's hands and mouth began to create magic…and he leaned in to whisper in her ear. Mac's smile widened just before Harm made good on his offer…

**Harmon Residence, next morning…**

"Tom?"

Nothing.

"Tom" A whisper of a sound as she brushed her lips over his right ear.

Still nothing.

"_Tom!"_

"Uh?"

Mattie smiled at the unintelligible response from her husband, and thanked her parents silently as she waited…

**DEFINITELY THE END THIS TIME!**


End file.
